Nothing wrong with being a critic in a time of military conflict. The question is, are you offering alternative plans of action and critique, combined with a clear and shared commitment to victory as the goal? Are you asking for a plan of action and the terms of victory? Is victory your starting point, and your first demand?

This war is vital -- and it is vital that it is understood. Is that possible? A friend of mine was whining about the price of gas the other day. Her SUV costs about $50 a tank now. No talk about how the SUV doesn't fit in the era of Islamic terrorism emanating from the sands of Arabia. We have our tax breaks, but no talk about financial sacrifices for this war. The President of the United States is seen strolling on his ranch holding hands with now-King Abdulla of Saudi Arabia, home of Wahhabism. Nuclear terror threats develop here within our borders while our two main parties argue about when we should remove troops from Iraq. On and on, there's endless examples of how Washington is failing to communicate the strategy and purpose in the Third World War, where Iraq is a battleground.

... to win this war, we might actually have to buy fewer things, pay more for gas, eschew wasteful energy practices, question the morality of multiculturalism, develop and share a strategy for winning, question our assumptions, and give up the notion that this is all for pretend.